


The Monsters We Are

by Diemthedragon



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Cornerstone, F/M, M/M, Multi, contains 2 ocs, first yogscast fan fic, sorry if it sucks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-26 08:36:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3844294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diemthedragon/pseuds/Diemthedragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We'd been alone so long, we finally found people who accept us, but will they still accept us when they learn the truth?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cornerstone

I grip the handle of my wooden sword tighter, making my hand ache and my small knuckles turn white. My companion curses under his breath, having run out of arrows a few hours ago when we had gone out hunting.  
“I will ask again. Who are you?” asks the man standing just a few feet from us, holding a gleaming sword and wearing an iron chest plate but nothing else in the way or armor, though it was far more then either Levi or I had. I shake my head slightly and begin searching the man for any signs of weakness but I found none, he seems trained in combat. I run the chance through my head of us being able to outrun him, we're both quite acrobatic but we were in a forest with close tree and low branches. Our only current advantage was numbers until a woman's voice came from the trees behind him, he reacted in twitching slightly but did not take his eyes off of us, knowing we would run if we had the chance.

“Rythian, what's going on? Why did you ask for back up?” the voice asks as a beautiful woman with golden hair steps through the trees, her ocean blue eyes immediately land on us as she enters the small clearing, she quickly places her hand on the sword strapped to her side.  
“'ou are you?” she asks, narrowing her eyes and quickly examining us, relaxing slightly seeing I only have a wooden sword. At this point there's no chance we would succeed so I release my swords and squeeze Levi's wrist, knowing we had to answer them or they may attack.  
“Levi, I'm Levi, this is Ari, we aren't here to hurt anyone.” Levi says, his voice slightly muffled by the mask he wore. Rythian, as we just learned he was called, scoffs quietly, and my eyes dart back to him, biting back a reply, seeming hostile would only make this situation worse for Levi and I.  
“How did you find us?” Rythian asks, I notice the grip on his sword loosened ever so slightly, though he remains in a position to attack.  
“You live on a floating island, you aren't hard to find.” I say, sarcastically before I can stop myself, his eyes flash coldly, I hear Levi chuckle slightly just under his breath.  
“What should we do?” the blonde woman asks turning her gaze to Rythian, he still does not take his blue eyes off of us, I don't think he's even taken the risk of blinking.  
Rythian begins to answer just as a man with a beard and dressed in overalls steps through the trees, he almost steps back as he sees Levi and I.  
“Sjin, did you invite them?” the woman asks, turning to him. She clearly didn't see us a threat as she was carelessly turning her back on us.  
“No, never seen them.” he answers, watching us now. I wondered how many there were, we had only begun watching them earlier today, we have no bad intentions, just curiosity.  
“I don't trust them.” Rythian says glancing quickly at Sjin,  
“They don't seem to have any weapons,” Sjin says shrugging slightly, eyeing my swords  
“But they were sneaking around.”  
“We wanted to make sure you would be safe to approach.” Levi says, making all attention return to us.  
“Guys, may I suggest something?” the woman asks, they move closer and she beckons them but Rythian does not take his eyes off us. I glance at Levi, who jerks his head back asking if we should run, I shake my head, we could never outrun them. After a few minutes they separate, Rythian's jaw clenched. The woman takes a step towards us and I instinctively put a hand on my sword, causing Rythian to grip his tighter again.  
“We want the group to decide on to do with you, you know where our base is and we don't know if you can trust you. We want your packs and then you will follow us back to the others.” she says calmly.  
“If you do not comply we will kill you.” Rythian says, answering the question I had not asked. I looked at Levi, reading the slight fear in his eyes, dying was never pleasant even if it was not permanent.  
We shrug off our packs and hand them over, they were nearly empty anyway, some food, a tent, a some first aid supplies. Rythian argued with them about tying our hand together since we may try to run, given the chance. After several more minutes of debating they tie our hands with sturdy rough rope which Levi fought rather hard against, at one point managing to nail a hit on Rythian, which made the situation take longer as Sjin and the woman had to restrain him.  
They lead us through the quiet forest to the bottom of a wooden ladder that climbs up the the slime island they called home. In the back of my mind I question their decision to build in an area so high and open. Maybe they thought the world was uninhabited other then the small villages spread through out the world.  
Several people approach us and I can't help but notice the lack of women.  
“Testosterone party.” I mumble under my breath, tugging against the ropes that are digging into my wrists and making them sore.  
“How the fuck are they?” asks a tall ginger man, staring at us in a way that made my skin crawl. Levi shifted uncomfortably under everyone's gazes. The expressions of everyone varied greatly, some looked curious, others concerned or menacing.  
“I found them creeping around in the forest, they wanted to know if we were safe to approach.” Rythian says, looking to the ginger man, it was the first time he took his eyes off of us for more then a few seconds.  
“Can we keep them?” asks the shortest man of the trio, an almost cruel smirk on his face.  
“We aren't animals” Levi says, glaring at him.  
“Never said you were mate.”  
“Can we please behave and talk about this rationally?!” says the small woman with purple up her arms and on her face.  
“I say we kill them.” says the ginger man.  
“Oh, be quiet Smiffy!” the woman says looking at him. I look to the sky, noticing the red and purple mixed with soft pink and blue clouds scattered around, it would have been a beautiful sunset if we weren't at the risk of being killed. Soon the monsters would spawn and if they wanted all the would have to do it leave us out here tied up and we would slowly be ripped by zombies or shot by skeletons, maybe poisoned by spiders. My chest tightens at the thought, and I visibly shiver, my eyes turning to the ground.  
The others having noticed the sin setting decide we'll going into the rail depot  
“If anything gets broken you lot are going to have to fix it!” says a handsome man with a blue bandanna around his neck.  
All at once everyone began talking, to each other or us though the words were impossible to understand. I look at Levi, who seems to be working his wrists from the rope slowly.  
“Levi if we run they'll kill us.” I say just quiet enough for him to here, he pauses and looks at him with frightened and angry grey eyes  
“If we don't run they might kill us!” he says before slipping his wrists out of the ropes. He shifts closer and begins untying me  
“Damn fucking knots.” he says, keeping his eyes on the group, not risking looking at the rope, I here his breathing pick up as he begins to panic.  
“Levi, stop. J-Just leave it, I'll be fine.” I mumble. He shakes his head slightly to much, drawing the attention of the man I would assume is a scientist, but he loses interests and returns to talking.  
“I can't. I won't let you die again. We can't die again.” he says his voice cracking slightly. I looked at him sadly, feeling panic suddenly crash in on me. Dying was always hard on us, harder on the other. In the back of our minds we were always wondering if this life was the last and the screaming of the other person before they realize they're okay left us with nightmares for several days. I shift around enough to gently grab his fingers and squeeze them “We'll be okay. No matter what they choose.” I said softly. He looks at the group then back at me before nodding and releasing my ropes.  
In the end it seems that the group was split in what to do with us but in this place majority wins and Sjin approaches us,  
“I would like to extend the offer for you to join Cornerstone.” he says, a friendly smile on his bearded face. Levi and I both stared at him in shock, Sjin unsheathes his sword and in the blink of an eye Levi is in a defensive pose in front of him causing some of the others to react with shock or by drawing they're swords.  
“Rythian was right, we can't trust them! He was trying to escape.” says a tall man with dark hair and icy eyes.  
“You would too if you thought you were going to be killed! We heard you debating it! Did you really think we would just wait for it peacefully?!” I say carefully getting to my feet.  
“I was just going to cut the ropes !” Sjin cries defensively, Levi steps back and I turn so I can be freed, rubbing my sore slightly cut up wrists.  
Levi and I say we want to privately discuss if we are going to accept the invitation, the group steps outside a few wandering off. After watching them through the windows for a few minutes I turn to Levi.  
“Do you want to stay?” I ask. He looks at me with stormy grey eyes, we'd been on our own so long, chased out of villages and barely surviving for three years, struggling to avoid circumstances that everyone else enjoyed, things water and sunlight.  
“They want us to stay, they invited us. They don't even know us.” he says, his face slowly changes to a relieved calm. Acceptance was important to him, he'd had friends before, they all cared for each other and now it was gone, left in the world we came from, buried with them or trapped in the memories in the back of their minds as they were worked to the bone as slaves. I'd been mostly alone, I had my parents of course but no friends, except Levi but things had changed the day we left. Often we hate eachother for letting us leave but we never left, never let it show but we both knew it was there, boiling anger and hatred.  
“I will stay if you want too.” I say giving him a weak smile, I have to protect him in case something went wrong. He nods before stepping forward and pulling me into a tight hug, I return the hug, closing my eyes and sighing, maybe this would become home for us.  
I open the door and we step out on to the soft green grass, I look around for the first time, the area was poorly lit, it shocked me that there were no monsters lingering about. We told Sjin we would accept his invitation and introductions were quickly made.  
“I'm sorry about the others, I think they may be a bit territorial.” Nano, a beautiful girl with strange purple matter up her arms and on her face,said. I smile slightly at her with a shrug, she was the first one to argue that we shouldn't be killed, needless violence, even if she hadn't exactly been defending our lives it was still nice to know she didn't think we should be slaughtered for poking around their base.  
“We should head upstairs to the house, and get ready for bed.” Lomadia says, looking to her left as the sound of monsters approaching gets louder.  
We follow them up the ladder that seemed over impossibly high, I'd not done much climbing, mostly walking, and the act took a small toll on Levi and I, leaving us panting quietly and our muscles aching. Nano gets us some bread, meat and water from the chests, passing it to us as we sat on the floor.  
I take a few bites before looking at Levi who is looking at the food and then I remember he can't remove the bottom of his mask, I glance at the others who seem preoccupied and shift around, blocking the left side of his face, we eat quickly, enjoying the food immensly but being to hungry to take our time. I avoid the water while Levi drinks both out shares, Levi replaces his mask as Lalna approaches us with two small devices,  
“These are communicators, we usually have different jobs so we're all spread out.” he says, he gives us a quick run down of how they work and whose on what channel before we slip them in our ears, it seemed like they weren't there almost, being so small.  
After cleaning up from eating and getting our packs back, a detail that was almost forgotten, we're lead upstairs as the others are settling into bed, I don't like sleeping in the same room as everyone but I say nothing, maybe Levi and I could set up our tent outside or even build a small house.  
We climb into the beds, Levi removing his crimson robes and black boots but leaving on the mask that covered the bottom of his face until just below his eyes and his gloves. He was soon asleep as was everyone else. I lay still for a long time, listening to the calm breathing and soft snoring of everyone, I feel eyes on me and I sit up slightly, seeing Rythian leaning on the stairs up the the third level, his eyes were glowing very faintly purple, gives off as much light as a star would. We sit in silence for a few moments, just watching each other. My skin crawls under his arctic gaze and finally I break eye contact to look over the sleeping figures.  
"I won't hurt them,"I say returning my gaze to him. He shifts slightly, straightening.  
"I do not believe that."  
"We could have already hurt them, we had the chance." Levi and I had discovered them nearly a week ago, watching then since. Rythian chuckles dryly  
"And that's supposed to make me trust you?" In a short few steps he is in front of me, he towers of me, radiating power that almost makes me move away but I steady my nerves and meet his gaze. "If you hurt anyone of then in the slightest I will kill you over and over forever, I'll do the same to your friend." He growls before walking away, going down the stairs. I faintly here the door downstairs open and shut.  
I sit in silence even when the sun begins to rise, frozen in fear, the threat wasn't what scared me so much, it was the bottomless look of hatred and power in his eyes. I look to Levi and sigh softly, I wouldn't disturb his peace by telling him about this.


	2. Memories and Mining Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mining isn't always fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter is from Levi's Point of View and Yoglabs doesn't exist here! Hope you enjoy

I'm woken up by Ari as the sun begins to rise over the horizon, I watch the sky for a bit as the golden clouds begin to turn white. I stretch as I get to my feet, my bones clicking. I slide on my dark grey boots, tying the black laces tightly and quickly before straightening and looking at the others, they were all sleeping peacefully in their beds, Rythian is missing though but I brush it off, it wasn't my job to look after him, as the light begins to shine into the room, making my skin burn where patches of light had begun to touch it. I slip on my crimson robes and sigh softly, it'd be so long since I'd been able to feel the sun and wind on my skin. It seemed like another life entirely and in a way, it was.

 

Rythian enters the room just as the others begin to get up and get dressed, some more sluggish then others. Rythian goes to Sjin and tells him a creeper exploded near the house of flowers and damaged the house and ground, Sjin groans and thuds down the stairs while the others drift off to get to work. 

 

Lomadia, being the last in the room turns to us, "want to help on the farm? We could use some help collecting wheat and cooking bread." She says shrugging on her her jet pack.We agree and go down the stairs, grabbing breakfast and sitting on the chests or window sill as we eat. Ari passes me her water when Lomadia is digging through the chests. I take it and drink it quickly, managing to finish my food and replace my black mask before Lomadia returned her attention to us. 

 

I peer anxiously down at the ground as Ari being the climb down, I hated heights, feared them really. It was my first death in this world that caused my fear. Before we came here the highest I had been was on top of barn making repairs after a bad storm, the area I had lived in was very flat with only a few hills.

 

_It had started out as a normal day, the sun was beginning to set but we were determined to cover more ground, it had rained all day and night the previous day and the ground was muddy, slowing us but it also slowed the monsters that hadn't burned._

  
_We took a short break on a cliff, thinking back it wasn't the wisest idea but it wasn't muddy, we set down a picnic blanket that we had looted from a village a few days before._ _  
_   


_"How long have we been here?" Ari asks looking at me, her goggles were around her neck showing the vibrant shades of purple  of her eyes for the first time in a while._

_"two months, three weeks and five days." I say leaning back and look at the silvery grey clouds that hung low in the sky._

  
_We sit in a comfortable silence for a while, eating a few berries we had found in the woods, I begin looking through my bag, wondering if we had much food left, we may have to start scavenging and hunting again._ _I gasp and sit up as an arrow suddenly digs into my shoulder, Ari and I are immediately on our  feet. The pain radiates from shoulder, making me dizzy, I grit my teeth as tears roll slowly down my cheeks. Two skeletal archers stand 20 feet away. We dodge the arrows carefully, after managing to clear my head I draw my sword with my left hand, I was right handed but the arrow in my shoulder prevented me from doing anything with that arm._   


 

  
_One of the skeletons fires an arrow, it narrowly misses and forces me to step back. It realized this and keeps firing,knowing I would have to stop on the edge of the cliff, making me an easy target,I back up farther and farther._ _I try to tell myself to quit backing up but my fight or flight instincts is telling my to run and it's the only safe direction on the narrow cliff._ _Another arrow flies, lodging right above my collar bone, I drop my sword and step back,the rock gives out from under me and I begin to fall._   


 

  
_Time seemed to slow down, it was a few moments before I screamed,_ _realizing that I was going to die,_ _the ground rising fast to meet me, I tried to close my eyes but my body wouldn't listen I watched death come closer and closer. The sickening sound of cracking bones vibrated in my ears and pain courses through me but only for a second before darkness closed in._   


 

 

I shudder at the memory, I hadn't been afraid of skeletons to my surprise, though at the time we'd had several healing potions, the arrow were painful but not deadly. It was strange, to still fear death when it wasn't permanent. Where I had come from you only had one life, when you were gone you were gone. Death had been the most feared thing and it still was.

 

Ari and I silently collect the golden wheat, wind blowing the smell of wet dirt around, as  I try to push the memory from my mind I notice she seems rather distracted, often glancing over to Rythian who seems to be working on some kind garden with colorful flowers around a wooden basin.

"You okay Ari?" I ask, frowning slightly, she looks at me quietly for a moment before nodding.

"It's just, uh I'm curious what he's doing." She says with a slight shrug and grabbing another bundle of wheat. I knew she was lying but I don't push, she was out of it sometimes and I doubted she ever told the truth on what she was thinking.

 

Once we collected and replanted everything, we told Sjin we were going to make some bread and climbed up the ladder.

 

As we cooked we sang very loudly and off key, what was the fun in singing correctly? We're interrupted after several minutes by someone clearing their throat, I turn and see Nano grinning at us with a bundle of tools in her arms. 

"Sorry for interrupting your private concert but Lalna and I made you guys tools, we'll have your jet packs soon." She says, Ari and I take the tools and thank her. Nano starts back up the stairs as Lalna's voice floats down the stairs, cursing one of the Hats for taking something from the smeltery. 

"I swear they're trying to start another war." She sighs softly, shaking her head before continuing to walk up the stairs.

I raise my eyebrow at her statement but ignore it and go back to cooking, I would ask about it later. I felt it would be an interesting story.

 

Just as we're cooking the last loaves of bread our singing session is interrupted once again by the door opening and closing. I glancing over my shoulder to see Strippin and Benji watching us. 

"Er, great singing guys." Benji says watching us.

"Right? Best singers in the land." Ari says laughing leaning again the window.

"You guys hungry? We've got fresh bread" I say motioning to it.

"Hell yeah." Strippin says coming over and grabbing some, passing a loaf to Benji. There was a silence as the brothers ate and we finished baking the bread.

"So Levi, What's with the whole robe and mask thing? I makes you look sort of evil." Strippin say, breaking the silence.

"I think it makes me look cool," I say, lightly touching the dark grey mask and turning to face him, it wasn't a lie I do think I look cool but the robe and mask were necessary or I'd burst into flames when I was in sun light.

"You even slept with it on though, do you need to look cool in your sleep too?" Benji asks, brushing crumbs off the front of his shirt.

"Of course I do, I'm used to wearing it really so sometimes I don't realize I have it on." I shrug slightly

"So have you ever tried to eat while still wearing it." Strippin asks, I quickly shake my head but Ari laughs

"He does it all the time!" I turn and glare at her and she sticks her tongue out at me.

 

We continue talking to the 'Rail Bros' as they called themselves and they invite us to mining with them, I agree while Ari declines saying she prefers to work on the farm.

"Well break time is over so let's go!" Strippin says pushing himself off the wall and heading for the door. I quickly put my tools in my pack before following.

I follow the Rail Bros the entrance of the mine while Ari walks to the farm to find another job. We enter the mine and make our way down to the depths of the caverns. We reach a large cavern full of ores and decide to go our separate ways. Soon I start mining a vein of gold I found, the others had fallen quiet, so the only sound was my pick axe hitting rock and my quiet panting. I'd only gone mining once before in the old world and had rather liked it, I wasn't at all claustrophobic and though the work was physically taxing it allowed for your mind to roam.

 

We mined for several hours, talking only to say what we had found. When my muscles began to feel like jelly, I drop my pick and sit against the wall, munching on some bread and drinking water, I lean my head back against the wall and close my eyes.

 

I must have fallen asleep because I suddenly hear Benji's voice coming over the communicator sounding panicked and pained. I quickly get to my feet and shake off my sleepiness.

"What's wrong?" I ask, heading out of the tunnel I entered and back into the main cavern, looking around for him.

"I-I've fallen in a hole. I think my leg is broken and the Jet pack won't work" Benji says through gritted teeth.

"We'll find you Benj." Strippin says, I can hear worry in his voice but I know he's trying to surppress it, it wouldn't help Benji.

I head the direction Benji had gone, finding a trail of torches and starting to follow them.

"I hear a zombie." Benji says quietly.

I jump over a river of Lava, Stripping flying down from above. His face was set hard but his eyes gave away his fear, I start to say we'll find him and it will be okay but instead I say nothing, we need to focus on finding Benji.

"How are you Benj?" Strippin asks after a few moments of silence, I hadn't realized Benji had gone so far from us nor that the cavern was so large.

"I'm okay but the monsters are getting closer now." he whispers, I can barely hear him.

"You'll be okay, we'll find you." I say, beginning to move more quickly.

Strippin continues talking to Benji, trying to keep him calm, we can hear the monsters over the comm now and just as we find the hole Benji had fallen in, he screams.

 

I stay back and call Kim over the com, telling her Benji is hurt and we need a med kit to be ready when we get back. She says she's on it and I can hear her rummaging in the chests. Strippin who had flown down to get Benji, holding him tightly and flying quickly toward the exit. I pause and quickly make a sign, leaving it a few feet from the hole as a warning before turning and leaving the mine.

 

I quickly climb the ladder to the house, knowing it was only because of adrenaline that my limbs that had been weak and useless before could drag me up the seemingly endless ladder. Sjin and Ari are standing on the first floor near the stairs, both looking a little green.

"Benji was bitten by a zombie." Sjin says, I nod wondering if the could help him. Zombie bites were painful to deal with and I'd seen a villager die from one, soon becoming a zombie, his wife had to chop off his head to protect the others. I shook my head slightly at the memory.

 

A few hours passed and all but Strippin came back down, Lalna looked at us and shook his head.

"Strippin is waiting for him to er wake up." the scientist said heading for the door and opening it, cool air blowing into the house. We sit in silence for a while before Ari speaks

"T-There aren't limited deaths here are there? You always come back right?" she gets strange looks but Lomadia stretches slightly

"Yeah, Ridgedog, a guy who thinks he's a god always brings us back, something about us being entertaining." she says, her voice is hostile and I wonder if he'd always been so kind, that probably isn't the correct word for him.

 

Soon Strippin and Benji come down the stairs, both looking pale but no one says anything and we continue on like nothing happened.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if the ending is bad, I finished it on my phone because my laptop charger died and I really want to post it! This story is mostly for my friend and I but if you enjoy it great!


End file.
